Climate Change: What It Means for Us, Our Children, and Our Grandchildren

Index

Index Note: italicized numbers refer to figures, tables, and boxes. Abrupt climate change, 39–40, 47, 51, 228, 311 Adaptation to climate change agriculture, 4, 296, 309 cost-effective, 34, 88, 155, 157, 170, 201–202, 282 ecosystems on land, 23, 56, 66–71, 87–90, 202, 296 international cooperation and, 150–151, 152–153, 164–166 low-income, vulnerability, and, 285, 286, 309 mitigation reducing costs and allowing more time for, 163, 164–166 ocean acidification and, 12, 63, 67, 78–79, 87, 166 plans for, 207, 261, 286–287, 308 polar bears, 8, 72, 245 Adaptive capacity, 21, 265 Aerosols, 42, 45, 90, 134, 155 function in warming of earth, 33–35 Africa, 70, 266, 274, 280 greenhouse effect in, 58 source of tropical storms, 299 Agriculture, 40, 55, 57–58, 232, 280, 293, 296, 309 Air pollution, 66, 134, 199, 227, 285 Alaska, greenhouse effect in, 65–66, 68–69 Albedo, 9, 128 Alternative technologies, 189, 191, 198 American Association for the Advancement of Science, 109 American Geophysical Union, 109, 112 American Meteorological Society , 112, 119 AmericanPetroleumInstitute,240 Annex 1 countries, 160–161, 173, 177 Antarctica, 92 ice sheets, 22, 26, 36 ozone hole over, 233–236 Anthropogenic forcing. See Forcing 336 Index Arctic, 38, 46, 58–59, 66, 72, 128, 184, 239, 245–246, 296, 300 Arctic Climate Impact Assessment , 128 Arrhenius, Svante, 38, 127, 134, 138 Asia, greenhouse effect in, 34, 58 Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development, 161, 174 Atmosphere, 18–21 composition, 19–20 Atmospheric circulation, 21 Australia, 110, 166, 259 Automobiles, 31, 124, 187–188. See also Transportation Bangladesh, 267–271, 273, 275, 290, 314 Banura, Tariq, 264 Biodiversity, 244, 269–270 Biosphere, 2, 18, 26, 34–35, 67 function in climate, 20–22 Blair, Jayson, 248 Blair, Tony, 168. See also United Kingdom Briffa, Keith, 135–136 British Petroleum, 12 Brklacich, Mike, 289 Bush, George W., 183, 193 Business, 80, 151, 172, 178, 184, 191, 199, 200, 211, 285, 297. See also Greenhouse effect Byrd-Hagel Resolution, 177–178 California greenhouse effect in, 12, 17, 72–79 percent of U.S. emissions from, 72–73 policy and law responses to global warming, 302, 305– 306, 309, 310–311 State Teachers Retirement System , 312 California Climate Action Registry , 199 California Climate Action Team, 310 Callendar, Guy Stewart, 32, 127, 134, 138 Callendar effect, 32 Canada, 40 greenhouse effect in, 57, 258 provinces’ programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, 195, 278 Cap and trade, 9, 170, 172, 181, 187, 193, 199, 282–287, 305. See also Greenhouse gas markets Capra, Fritjof, 289 Carbon cycle, 9, 22, 26, 29, 45, 289 Carbon dioxide, 22 household emissions in the United States, 26–29 levels, 23–24, 25, 47 sources of, 7–8, 29–32 Carbon dioxide trading system, 167–169 Carbon or carbon dioxide tax, 152, 166, 170, 172, 309. See also Emissions charge Cato Institute, 125, 242 Chaos theory, 16–17 China, 173–178, 196, 207, 259, 260, 266, 274, 308, 311 implementation of Kyoto Protocol , 172–173 Index 337 Chlorofluorocarbons function in warming of earth, 27 role in destruction of ozone layer, 233 Chomsky, Noam, 272 Cities and climate change. See United States, positions of states and cities on climate change Clean Air Act, 180–182, 186– 188, 192 Clean Development Mechanism, 9, 161, 174 Climate definition of, 15, 24 uncertainties in predicting, 16–18, 37–42 Climate change. See also Greenhouse effect actions that can influence, 3, 16–25 computer models, 7, 134 debate, 107–128 economics of, 303–304 human security and, 265–267 investment decisions and, 171, 296, 304, 310–311 obstacles to understanding, 5–11 world responses to, 53–56, 86–92, 152–188 Climate Change 2001, 109 Climate Change 2007, 124 Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key Questions , 109 Climate forcing. See Forcing Climate leaders, 195–198 Climate modeling, 7, 16, 43, 62, 73, 134 Climate niches, 68, 76–77, 253 Climateprediction.net, 131–132 Climate system, 15, 18–23, 258, 295 function of oceans, 21–23 Clinton, Bill, 178, 190 Clouds, role in climate change, 19–20, 25, 29, 44–45, 266 Coal clean, 174 gases from, 29, 38, 174 reliance on, 34, 169, 174–175, 183, 194, 210 Communication, 303. See also Greenhouse effect gatekeepers and, 248–251 Conference of the Parties, 156– 157, 157–161 Congressional Budget Office, 304–306, 310 Consensus on climate change science, 107–122 regarding climate change...